21.2.10

Underneath the Mediterranean Saturday sun some friends and I hit up the beach with a soccer ball to work on our skills.

Here is Bryana teaching me her moves with the port of Palma in the background:

Talented as we may be, I found myself both losing the ball to the tepid waters and my face in the sand a few times. I washed a good amount of sand out my hair in the shower this morning.

o oo oo oo oo o

This is our practice team: Monica (the soccer mom), Jenny (tired, sitting with ball), Liz (the serious pirate), and me

Our practice paid off and this evening the Amazonas (our independent league team of tiny south americans) defeated their opponents. After scoring my first goal of the season Liz Collins did the worm on the soccer field in honor of a bet she had made with me at a team dinner. I can promise that more business negotiations (bets and dares) will be made as to embarrass each other more as the season progresses. The league's president took lots of photos and we can only hope that they are featured soon online or in the news, which will lead to major contracts in the national division.
After the landslide win, our Ecuadorian coach, Wilson, bought us two rounds of beer at the soccer arena cafe and then dropped us off at our home-stay doorsteps. Rounding out the weekend, we are all a little tipsy, wet from rain and sweat, but smiling from this afternoon's victory.

19.2.10

Among the group of Palma and non-Palma kids we had some stellar variety:

Firstly, a jabberwokky dancer performed that night (Erin Lindsay). Although she was smiling nobody knew it all night and appeared to be a freaky mystery dancer. Good thing she has viciously sexy eyes or people would've thought a guy was creeping around us all night.

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Lady Gaga came out to the bars (Kate Bartholemew) with a hint of Kate's rapper pseudo-personality, Baby Cheetah. This Gaga danced others to shame and also dressed up more than once throughout her stay in Palma. Even in the quaintest of bars our group was glad to show off our style and Carnaval spirit.

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And ultimately, an Avatar savage touched down from planet Pandora to Palma with time to save the planet of environmental dangers, act as priest in a gay marriage ceremony for two lovely Spanish ladies in the street, and heat up the dance floor all in one night's stay.

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But most importantly, we were safe and smart.

DANCE- because you can, and if you're lucky you'll look as cool as I do

DRINK- responsibly and with friends

DRESS UP- because it never gets old and you can reinvent yourself and express the freak within

18.2.10

After a FUN long weekend of entertaining friends, I am back at my madre's castle in my cozy clean princess room. Seven girls and I rented an apartment in a central neighborhood along the ocean boardwalk, where we laughed until our butts fell off.

Having this place was much more fun than staying in cramped hotel quarters or a hostel without any lounging space. I highly recommend this to other students, families and adult travelers, because it is easy to cook, great for vegging with a movie, and inexpensive if you get a lot of people to chip in! The best site for this is www.homeaway.com where they offer vacation rentals from around the world and make planning easier by narrowing searches by apartment size, travel dates, and prices.

As for San Valentín- good thing we were all busy with soccer, going out, catching up, Carnaval parades, and making new friends otherwise being a single lady may have gotten me down (which would actually never happen because I have many caring stand-in boyfriends, like my Dad).

Did I ever write about the time I was a hair model in Spain?No Annie, please continue...

I went to a hairdresser for a trim this November and came back with a haircut and an invitation to model for a hair dressing seminar in Palma. Feeling obliged to do the community a good service, I accepted (ha, no I felt so honored).

My friend, Bryana, modeled with me as the dark haired one, while I played the role of the blonde.

However, the night wasn't as fun as I had hoped. Three hours of hair tugging and cameras flashing at my unsure facial expressions and I get photos like this one-------->

9.2.10

Carnaval is approaching this weekend and there hype, and in my case, lots.

I am dressing up as Avatar and have gotten many helpful costume and makeup suggestions, but this one has to be my favorite clip of all sent to me by Molly O'Beastly-Brien.

Not helpful at all, but made me laugh and confident that I won't be the worst Avatar look alike this holiday season.

As for the tradition, Carnaval is held before and marks the beginning of Lent, so we must rally and have fun before giving up our vices for 40 days. That doesn't mean all vices, just some, or one will do. I would like to both give something up and commit to doing something good- that way the "giving something up and complaining about it" will be balanced with "me feeling good about being charitable". Therefor, making me a tolerable person to be around during the upcoming selfless season of self sacrificing and spiritual growth.

7.2.10

Soccer star number 1:Liz Collins, junior at HC studying in Mallorca, also one of the best soccer players on the island, played in a select game today as the American ringer. Other players on that team were trying to get her to play on other teams during the regular season. Our coach thinks he has some contract with her and won't let her play for anyone else, because she will not perform as well on his team-, but occasionally he cuts deals with other teams at his disposal- she gets told to bring I.D. photos and copies of her passport with her to whichever field they send her to on the island and throws on a jersey not knowing any of the other players.Soccer star number 2: Bryana Knight, junior at HC studying in Mallorca and runner up in soccer beauty pageant. Today we attended a trophy presentation for the end of our season, which was on a soccer field with speakers and a dj who played music from South America, little kids in Halloween costumes running around and people eating foods they packed as picnics- ideal latino set up. Each team (both the men's and women's) selected a girl (player/daughter/girlfriend) to model like a beauty pageant barbie and lead the teams onto the field in an organized formation. The announcer would announce the team and the ethnicities of the players. Bryana was our queen and she looked like she was going to a quinciñera. She is half Honduran so it was a good thing we picked her and played the cultural card. After listening to the national anthems of every country in the league (which was every one in South America), everyone was standing in a large ring with the beauty pageant contestants in front of every team and they played the U.S. anthem while the crowd stared at the three obvious American girls in the league to see if we would sing or something. Bryana had to come forward as a finalist and everyone snapped photos and she won second place with a sash to prove it. The competition was hilarious and little girls dressed up in ball gowns just for fun to pretend that they were competing.

And finally- me, who has no skills, but the team wanted to showcase the Americanas and asked the blondie to accept the team's trophyI could not be happier with my new South American soccer friends that look all wear gold caps and jewles on their teeth, are really catholic, and laugh at everything I say. The captain invited me to come see her kids in a Carnaval costume parade this week and I can't wait to go to the latino neighborhood and stand out like black sheep.